Tunica County approves sports-complex management contract, delays finalization of profit-sharing terms to legal review

At Thursday's Tunica County Board of Supervisors meeting, the board approved an agreement to contract out management of the Tunica sports complex but asked the county attorney to review the agreement’s profit-sharing provisions before finalization.

Dr. Willis presented the item and told the board the proposed agreement would take effect April 1 and that section 2.72 addresses sponsorship commissions, section 2.73 addresses profit sharing, and section 2.74 sets an employee transition date "on or before 10/01/2025." The board voted to approve the agreement contingent on attorney review of those provisions.

The discussion focused on how the profit-sharing arrangement would be calculated and whether it raises ethical or statutory questions under Mississippi law. A supervisor who asked to confer with the ethics office said, "It's a pure profit sharing agreement after you paid the, the parties for doing the managerial work," and pressed whether profit would be computed per event or at year-end. The supervisor said they wanted assurance the structure complied with state law and county ethics rules before the county began the profit-sharing calculations.

Dr. Willis acknowledged the need for further vetting, and the board approved the measure with the contingency that the county attorney and, if necessary, the ethics office review the profit-sharing language in section 2.73. Board members also noted the employee transition deadline in the contract that would shift sports-complex employees no later than Oct. 1, 2025.

The motion was made and seconded; the chair called the question and the motion carried.

The agreement as presented remains subject to the attorney's review of the specified sections; the board did not amend the effective date or the transition deadline during the meeting.